Saint Louis Art Museum Will Present Video Work By Nuotama Frances Bodomo

St. Louis MO

06 December, 2021

1:44 AM

Description

Press release from the St. Louis Art Museum: November 29, 2021 ST. LOUIS —Ghanaian-born filmmaker Nuotama Frances Bodomo has received international recognition for her imaginative and experimental portrayals of contemporary Africa through film. Starting next month, the Saint Louis Art Museum will present Bodomo's acclaimed short film "Afronauts." The 14-minute film will be on view in Gallery 301 from Jan. 14, through April 17. (To download stills from this video, click on the images at the bottom of this press release.) Inspired by the real-life Zambian space program in the 1960s, the 2014 film follows 17-year-old astronaut Matha Mwamba, the young woman at the center of the historic mission. Led by Zambian schoolteacher and revolutionary Edward Mukuka Nkoloso, the National Academy of Science, Space Research and Philosophy began as an unofficial space program with aspirations to beat the Soviet Union and the United States to the moon. Combining true events and fiction, Bodomo sets the 2014 film on July 16, 1969—the same day as the Apollo 11 launching—weaving audio and video clips from the historic moon landing throughout the narrative. The black-and-white film follows a team of astronauts as they train for a mission to the moon. Throughout the film, Bodomo incorporates themes of colonialism, nationalism and Afrofuturism, an aesthetic and philosophy that explores African diaspora culture and technology. Though the historic mission did not send an astronaut to the moon, the program successfully asserted the ambition of Zambia, which had become independent from the United Kingdom in 1964. Set historically in the years following independence, "Afronauts" draws many parallels with today, such as the persistent and unfounded underestimation of African nations, the continued fight for racial and gender equity and the international competition for scientific advancements. "Nuotama Frances Bodomo: Afronauts" is curated by Victoria McCraven, 2020-2021 Romare Bearden Graduate Museum Fellow, with Hannah Klemm, associate curator of modern and contemporary art. This press release was produced by the City of St. Louis. The views expressed here are the author's own.